Darren McFadden was hankering to make a play after running for only 54 yards in the first two games. So when he finally got a hole, four minutes into Sunday's game, he saw the end zone 64 yards away. Steelers safety Ryan Mundy was between McFadden and the goal line, but that barely registered.

"It was a great hole and I hit it running," McFadden said. "I saw the end zone, and I made one move on the guy and that was it."

A stutter-step later and McFadden's 64-yard touchdown run lifted some of the weight off the shoulders of the coaches and offensive linemen. They had been asked about the zone-blocking scheme and the poor run game in every way possible the past two weeks, and McFadden put a temporary end to that.

"Oh, that was exciting," center Stefen Wisniewski said. "First time we get him up clean to the safety, he makes the safety miss. ... No one's catching that guy. That's a great feeling as an O-lineman, to see him running for a long touchdown."

The play was an inside-zone run. Carson Palmer called an audible after he saw the Steelers coming on a blitz. McFadden finished with 113 yards on 18 carries.

"We weren't as worried about our running game as everybody else," Palmer said. "We just needed time, and this gives us some more confidence, but we weren't worried."

Flag change: The Steelers were up 14-7 late in the first quarter and seemed on the verge of taking over the game, but were hurt by penalties. They finished with 10 for 81 yards. The Raiders - who set records in penalties last season - had only three for 25.

"It's something that coach (Dennis) Allen has done a great job on since the first day he got here," Palmer said. "He harps on it all the time. It's something that we know we needed to change, and something we worked on a lot."

The Raiders then drew Ziggy Hood offside with a rapid shift on fourth down and Palmer found Darrius Heyward-Bey for a touchdown on the next play to tie the game 14-14. Allen was asked if he was going to go for it on fourth down, and he deadpanned, "We ran a play."

Similar strategies: The Raiders tired out the Steelers' defense with a no-huddle offense, and Pittsburgh kept Oakland's defensive linemen off Ben Roethlisberger with quick passes. The Raiders had only a Richard Seymour sack to show for the 49 times the quarterback dropped back to pass.

"It was the scheme, man," defensive tackle Tommy Kelly said. "They ran all those damn quick screens and that tires you out, stopping and finding the ball and running to the ball. That taxed us."

Quotable: "We don't play like that," said Mundy, who seemed to lead with his helmet in knocking out two Raiders (Heyward-Bey and Brandon Myers) with concussions. "We don't try to injure people or anything like that. We understand this is people's livelihood. We take that serious."